P*DE*Q Corner will close Dec. 23. The P*DE*Q Gluten Free Bakery at 435 N. Clovis Ave. will remain open. P*DE*Q Corner on Echo Avenue was the launching pad for the brand founded by owner Flavia Takahashi-Flores who transitioned from a home-based business. The delicious little balls of Brazilian cheese bread were made there at first. But the company has grown and she’s since hired Wawona Frozen Foods to make the P*DE*Qs, which are now sold in 23 Costco stores. The P*DE*Q Gluten Free Bakery has become the hub of the company’s gluten-free activity, and can do a lot more, including making and selling cupcakes, pies, cookies, bread and the PIZZA*Q line of gluten-free pizzas and dough. “We want to focus our energy on creating more product and focusing on just one store that we can view as a model store for franchising eventually,” she said.

Saturday’s story about Bottom’s Up Espresso — a drive-thru coffee joint with scantily clad “bikini baristas” — is the top story on The Fresno Bee’s website. A Clovis woman who lives near the Peach and Shaw avenues kiosk wants the workers to cover up and is circulating a petition to get the Clovis City Council involved. A video taken at the business is below (maybe a smidge NSFW, but it’s not over the top).

People have plenty to say about Bottom’s Up. They seem to fall into two camps. The first are outraged, including a commenter who said this: “… if you can’t buy coffee without making it about sex then there’s something wrong with your perverted minds … .”

In the other corner are the eye rollers who point out that the women are wearing just as much (or as little) as you’d see at the beach or at Hooters. As another commenter said: “Pretty simple, If you are offended don’t go to the business.”

Cartoonists — and more specifically editorial cartoonists — strive to create a provocative nuance in their artwork to help communicate their ideas in much the same way that this ad does for the Van Gogh Museum. It’s clever and so I thought I would share it you.

The chain is pretty popular on the East Coast, though most people seem to know it more for its coffee than its donuts. I remember my family getting one of those fold-up boxes full of Munchkins — donut holes — on long drives as a kid and sharing them around the car.

Dunkin’ Donuts may be a relatively new concept to many Fresnans. So, those of you who have been to one, what do you remember about it? What did you get?

Just to jog your memory (and because it’s lunchtime and I’m hungry and I feel like punishing myself), here’s some of the yummy-sounding donuts, including seasonal ones, listed on their website:

In case you were unaware, distracted or otherwise avoiding the universe, it’s official: fall has arrived. Shut up, calendar purists. The chronological passage of time means nothing in the face of REAL LIFE. And the governance of real life has long since moved away from the movement of the stars and cataloging the Earth’s relationship/position relative to the sun.

Real life and the signaling of the passage of time is the responsibility of corporations and we don’t know what time of year it is unless they tell us.

Do not be fooled.

Spirit Stores springing up about town does not mark the official beginning of fall; it alerts you to Halloween season, which is similar but totally and completely different (and now I’m ashamed to look at you in your ignorance).

The arrival of pumpkin-flavored IPAs in the beer aisle also does not signal anything except maybe that the weather might sometime in the distant future get cooler so the drinking of such beer won’t be as gross.

And the arrival of football only means that FOOTBALL season has arrived and nothing else. You’d be a fool to confuse it with anything other than the possibility that queso dip/chicken wing season is on the horizon. Plus it’s still baseball season, so pipe down.

No. Some 10-years ago, it was ordained that one of the biggest corporations to come out of Seattle — and NOT THE COSMOS — would evermore signal the change from smog and hot season to luscious, perfect fall — and said change would commence with the arrival of a flavored coffee.

The last coconut mocha has been served at the Iron Bird Cafe. The downtown business on Fulton Street in the Iron Bird Lofts is officially closed.

Owner Ann Liao said Wednesday that the business wasn’t making enough money to cover the cost of being open 16 hours a day, seven days a week. The cost of coffee beans and other expenses kept rising as Iron Bird struggled to serve early birds and a growing late night crowd. Rather than skimp on quality to cut costs, she decided to close.

It’s the second time a business named Iron Bird Cafe has closed in the location. The original coffee shop, which opened about the same time as the lofts, didn’t make it. Liao, who owns three Teazer World Market locations in Fresno, reopened Iron Bird Cafe about 10 months ago with a partner who specializes in coffee. They revamped the menu and brought in several new global types of coffee.

The regret in Liao’s voice was palpable when we spoke via phone.
“It’s tearing me apart,” she said. “We gave it our best try and I think customers loved it. People who do support it, support it 100%. We never really heard anything bad about about the service or the coffee.”

Iron Bird closed Dec. 31 for the New Year’s holiday and will not reopen.

Perhaps anticipating the round of doubts about downtown this might inspire, she said this in a goodbye message on the Iron Bird’s Facebook page:

The huge amount of construction going on in downtown and the many people moving towards this area hold great promise. We believe that soon someone with a fresh set of eyes will be able to make that location their own and make it happen in a way that works for the area.

There’s so many changes in the coffee shop scene in Fresno and Clovis that I was tempted to headline this “As the Coffee Bean Turns.” We’ve got attractive new players in the market, and a surprise kill-off of one longtime coffee shop. Here’s a rundown on the recent coffee shop action.

On The Edge coffee house has opened in the heart of Old Town Clovis on Pollasky Avenue. The little coffee shop has an amazing patio out back with a mural on its huge brick wall. On The Edge is owned by the same family who used to run the New

The patio at On The Edge coffee shop on Pollasky Avenue in Clovis.

Found Gold shop a few doors down. Jaynae Glenn, 19, is the driving force behind the business. She’s also planning her wedding. Her Superwoman cape is invisible.

Another coffee shop, Kuppa Joy Coffee House, is getting ready to open in early November about a block away on Clovis Avenue near 5th Street. Clovis High grad and former Detroit Lions football player Zack Follett is behind this one. I’ll have more details when it’s closer to opening.

For the next in my 7Qs series, I cornered Ephiram Bosse to ask him questions about his recently opened Fulton Mall business, Fresno Brewing Co. It’s a coffee place with plans for beer in the coming months — hitting both ends of the brewing spectrum, ya know?

One update to something Bosse talks about in the video: Twee Boutique, the cool Tower District boutique, has opened a second location next to Fresno Brewing Co., in what sounds like it’s going to be a commune of cool stuff.

It’s National Coffee Day, and while 7-11 was handing out free coffee and people went about their regular Starbucks routine, we thought it was a worthwhile time to call attention to a local business that’s doing great things with coffee.

For example, Saturday’s sold-out tasting will teach guests about brewing methods, grind and water temperature.

Rios says he likes lighter roasts that “preserve as much bean character as possible.” He also favors unusual coffees, such as the two that will be featured at Saturday’s tasting: Ethiopia Organic Sidamo Guji Maduro (which evokes varied flavors of cherry, plum and peach as it cools) and El Salvador Los Luchadores Pacamara. (Scroll down this page to see the full description).

For information about future tastings or to place an order, call (559) 492-7047. Pickup hours are noon-6 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays.